Smoke Signals in the Dead of Night
by BelleoftheBookstore
Summary: T.W: Anxiety Attack, Creative burn-out, Self-Esteem Issues, Sleep-Deprivation, Other Unhealthy Habits, Arguing. Roman is suffering from creative burn-out late at night and Logan is the only other side awake. Drama ensues as they start to address the issues they have with each other and themselves. Comments are always appreciated, as criticism can help me improve my writing. :)


It was 3 A.M. _The Devil's hour_, as Virgil liked to refer to it. Logan rubbed his eyes after staring at his computer screen for much longer than was probably healthy. On the plus side, he had finally finished a spreadsheet for Thomas' filming schedule for the next four months. And all the deviations he could think of were accounted for. They were going to be so productive. Logan felt a strange sense of pride for finally being helpful for once.

However, his eyes weren't the only part of him in need of moisture. His throat felt as parched as the Serengheti. He realized then that it probably had been at least eight hours since he had drank water. _Whoops. _Feeling as though he definitely deserved water, he walked to the kitchen to get some.

Quietly as possible, Logan navigated through the hallway and was about to embark down the stairs when he heard a noise.

It was muffled, but his perceptive hearing picked up a noise that was definitely a sob. He assumed it would be Virgil or Patton, but he was certain shocked when he realized that it sounded like it was coming from Roman's room, the closest to the stairs. Along with that, he saw that a small light was still creeping through the crack under the door. _What happened to beauty sleep? _Logan thought as he came to this surprising realization.

He knew that he and Roman had their differences and were prone to disagreements at times. However, he also knew that it was not a good idea to abandon a side in need, especially if everyone else is asleep. So he timidly knocked on the creative's door, only to realize that the door wasn't even closed.

He snuck in and took in the disarray. Crumpled up papers and half started projects littered the desk and floor. The only thing that looked untouched was the bed and in the center of it all was Roman, sitting on an office chair, his head on his desk, crying.

It was such an unexpected sight to him that Logan stood in the doorway motionless for a moment, not knowing what to do or say. It was enough time for the creative side to spin around and quickly rub his eyes.

"What are you doing awake?" Roman asked, his voice low but accusational.

"Working on the film schedule spreadsheet. What are you doing awake?" He replied. He saw Roman stiffen at the mention of schedules.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" The creative held up a crumpled up wad of paper and pencil markings and then dropped it dramatically.

"Making a mess…" He almost sounded quizzical, but Logan was still clearly missing the point. _He could be so dense sometimes. _

Roman didn't dignify him with a response. He just scowled and for a moment, he couldn't tell if he was mad at Logan or himself more.

"You should go to bed." Logan walked towards him slowly and started to put a hand on the other side's shoulder. He wasn't really sure what to do right now. "Adequate sleep is important for physical and mental health."

Roman scooted away from him. "You're a hypocrite, then."

"I was just stating a fact." The logical side deflected.

"Well, here's another fact then. You're being a hypocrite. You tell me to go to bed when you're up at the exact same time, probably running on less sleep than me. Is there anything else you want to critique me on?"

This was going even worse than Logan expected it to. Roman looked as though he would rather push him out the door than let Logan help him with anything. He decided to respond with another question.

"Why do you assume I came in here to critique you on anything other than your sleep habits?"

"Because that's pretty much all you say to me." The creatives side said. "_Roman, that idea is too expensive. This idea is too time-consuming. Roman, stop daydreaming and do something productive. Roman, stop being such an idiot!" _At this, he put his hands on his mouth, as if that would stop his voice from waking up the others.

"I don't recall ever calling you an idiot." Logan said, stiffening too.

"You didn't have to." He said meekly. "I can tell by the way you look at me."

It is at this moment that Logan snapped. Lots of repressed feelings came out at once. "Well what about the way you look at me? Like I'm dense, like you just want me to shut up. _Logan, you are stifling my creativity. Logan, it's like you don't care about the end product. Logan, none of us want you around, why don't you just do your job and leave the rest of us alone!" _

"I never said that last bit." Roman's voice was ice cold. "I guess we're both hypocrites then."

"Yes…" Logan took a deep breath and felt extremely ashamed. "We are. But we also need to change that. Like Virgil, we need to work on accepting ourselves for who we are and like Patton, we need to work on talking about things like this before they get this bad."

"I can't…" Roman was now pacing around the room. It reminded Logan of his moment in Patton's room last week. "I'm in too deep, everyone hates me… They just won't say it to my face."

"No, they don't." Logan put a hand on Roman's shoulder. "I'm sorry for all of my _savage_ jokes. But I've never intended to hurt you. I don't hate you, none of us hate you. If anything, you have a lot of negative perceptions about yourself…"

_He did. Roman hated that he was in this position, hated that he felt this way, hated…_

His legs started to feel weaker and Logan moved closer to support him, which surprised Roman. However, he was too overwhelmed to express this, so he found himself leaning against the logical side, sobbing into his necktie. Logan put his arms around him and rubbed his back rhythmically. He was also whispering soothing things. Roman was surprised that Logan was so good at this.

When he had gotten out all of his hidden sadness, he looked up at the sad but stoic looking Logan.

"Thank you." He said quietly. "I guess I needed that. Make sure you don't isolate yourself either, okay? We care about you, even when you make mistakes… Also, I know that you have feelings. It would illogical for you to be the only side that doesn't and I saw you crying on Patton's shoulder last week in the hallway."

Logan blushed and said, "Thank you?"

Roman giggled, his negativity lowering and said,

"No problem, Specs."

A new sense of peace started to fill the mindspace (and therefore Thomas) as the sides started to get along more smoothly. Mistakes were made and ups and downs happened, but everyone was willing to try and that's all that mattered.


End file.
